


Arcane

by Iniysa



Category: In a Heartbeat
Genre: Children, EMS, Emergency Medical Service, Gen, Hospitals, Teens
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2002-08-26
Updated: 2002-08-26
Packaged: 2017-11-26 18:55:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/653376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Iniysa/pseuds/Iniysa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jamie has a secret.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Arcane

**Author's Note:**

> Note: NOT BETA READ!!!
> 
> In A Heartbeat  
> Disclaimer: I do not own In A Heartbeat. I wish I did! I am not making ANY money for this fic.

Arcane  
By: Lauren Freeman

I have a secret, for the past five months, I have been living and working at the McDozys hospital for children. I got really sick one day, and my mom was nowhere to be seen once again. She is always leaving for days on end, my father left when I was really young. Anyways, I woke up really sick. I could barely walk; I didn't want to call Alex, so instead I called a friend of my moms, or a used to be friend of my moms, who happens to be a Doctor at McDozys. I did not know that at the time. So I picked up the phone and dialed her number, which was in my moms' phone book. 

"Hello?" The hurried voice of Dr. Jackson said over the phone.

"Dr. Jackson? This is Jamie Waite, umm..."

"Jamie? Hey! I have not seen you since you were 7, how are you?" 

"Umm, well to tell you the truth, I'm really sick, my mom has gotten into this habit of leaving for days on end, and well, she has been gone now for two weeks. I need someone to take me to the ER and you were the only one in my moms phone book that I know she hasn't made an of enemy yet, but if your late for work or can't for some reason, feel free to say no, I can find another way."

"Just hold on Jamie, I'll be right there. Do you still live in the same house?"

"Yeah." I said, and then I started to throw up for the 15th time that morning. I hung up the phone and just lay down against the wall. Dr. Jackson was at my house in no time. She scooped me up and had me lying in the back of her car before I could comprehend what was going on. 

"Just hang in there, Jamie, I am a medical doctor at McDozys Children's hospital, I'm going to take you there, okay?"

"Yeah." Was all I could mutter, I soon fell asleep. When I woke up, I found myself in a hospital bed in a small room; the walls had dinosaurs on them. I felt a lot better, there was an IV in my right arm, and I was in a large dark blue hospital gown. I was about to push the nurses buzzer when Dr. Jackson walked into my room.

"Hey, Jamie! How are you feeling today? I am glad to see you're finally awake!"

"Mmmm, much better thanks. How long was I out?"

"Two days! When I got you here you had a 105-degree temperature. We quickly started to get your temp down. You had a bad case of the flu."

"Flu? It's not even flu season!" I said with a groan. "Two days?!? My teachers are going to kill me! Alex is going to kill me!" 

"Don't worry about school, I called them and told them what's going on, I also told them to call where ever you worked, if you worked anywhere to let them know also. Who's Alex?"

"Thanks, Alex is my boss, I'm an EMT.

"An EMT? Really? Wow, you know we are looking for medical personal on are staff, and we accept EMT's. Its really good pay, and I bet we can arrange for you to stay here while your mom in away, that way you can get a proper meal, and everything."

"That sounds great, do you think I could still be an EMT for the station? I'm a volunteer, there, and I only work every other night and on the weekends."

"I'm sure we can arrange that." Before anyone could say anything else, a nurse walked in with all sorts of equipment in hand. 

"Good morning, Mr. Waite, I'm nurse Kelly."

"Good morning nurse Kelly." I said with a grin. 

"I'm just going to take your temp, blood presser and give you your medicine."

"Okay."

"Okay Jamie, I'm going to go get you an application. We will talk more later."

Before I knew it, I had a job, and I was literally living at the hospital. I went to my house every day to see if my mom was there, she never was. A month after I started my paying job, Dr. Jackson came to see me on my break. She took me out to a nice restaurant and kindly told me that she had been talking to a lawyer friend, and she found out that since no one had seen my mom in almost two months, that I would have to be turned in to the authorities, and I would have to live in a foster home unless someone adapted me. I could not breath. I did not want to live in a foster home! I have heard horrible stories about those places. Then she told me something that turned my whole mood around, she said that she would adapt me, and that if I wanted to, I could still live at the hospital, since her home was next door, I quickly agreed. By the end of the next month I was un-officially adapted! Not officially yet due to the long process, the whole adoption thing takes. I was surprised I was able to keep my outside life from my friends, and I felt kind of guilty for not telling them. The school is so far away from McDozys; I had to get up extra early in order to get there. The EMT station is not nearly as far away as the school is. I had been living at McDozys for two and a half months when once again Dr. Jackson wanted to talk. This time I just went to her house for dinner. 

"I called the school today, to make sure everything is in order, all the paper work is filled out. etc, and they told me your grades are starting to drop. Can you tell me why?"

"Yeah, I am so tired when I get there, I am sleeping through my classes, I mean does the school have to be SO far away?" She laughed,

"That's what I thought was the problem. So I talked to are teacher that teaches all the kids while they are at our hospital, and she agreed to teaching you at the hospital, if you will stay with the kids and make sure they do not act up while she is helping the other kids with there work. You will still graduate, just with other home schooled kids."

"What will I tell my friends?" I asked not meaning to ask out loud.

"Your friends don't know about your situation?"

"Um...no, I don't want them to know. But I go to school with them, what will I tell them?"

"If you really don't want them to know, tell them you moved, it's not a lie, and tell them that you will be going to another school, also not a lie. You can still be on the EMT squad!" 

So the next day was my last day at school. They were all shocked, but accepted it. So now I have been working at the McDozys hospital for five months. I have managed to get a good amount of money saved, since I now have a lot more time to work there. 

"Jamie! We have a 10 year old, female transferring here from, the main hospital. We are going to need some help, want to put in some overtime?" Nurse Hallowell the night nurse came to my room and asked me. That's the thing about living in the hospital; you get called in to overtime a lot! Not that I mind, I like working here.

"Sure, where do you need me?" I asked.

"Meet the kid at the ambulance bay with your mom, Dr. Jackson, it's the normal routine, temp, blood pressure, make sure all the lines are connected right, connect her to are equipment, excreta." Nurse Hallowell replied. At first the staff calling Dr. Jackson, my mom bothered me, but I got used to it, and now every once in awhile I will find myself calling her mom myself. I got up and got into my scrubs. Then I went to the ambulance bay to wait with Dr. Jackson for the ambulance to show up. 

"Hay, Jamie, I thought you were off!" Dr. Jackson asked.

"I decided to pull in some overtime." I said with a smile. Before we could say anything else however, the ambulance pulled up, and out popped, Alex. He did not even look up, but just started spitting out vitals. When we got the little girl to her room, he finally looked up, and stepped back. 

"Jamie, how long have you been working here?" Alex asked, a shocked look on his face. Before I could answer, I was given orders to draw her blood. I quickly complied, grabbed a needle and sat down on the girls' bed. 

"Hey there! What's your name?" I asked.

"Tosha," she replied. 

"My name is Jamie, I need to get a little bit of blood from you, it that all right?" She nodded her head, saying that it was alright. "Well you are a very brave girl, how old are you?" I asked and I had the needle in while she was looking up at me telling me she is 10. I smiled and asked her where she was from, she told me and I had the needle out and a band-aid on before she could finish telling about her house. "All done!" I told her. She looked down shocked.

"I did not even feel it go in!" She stated. "I like you!" She said and hugged me. I smiled back and gave her the thermometer to put in her mouth. 

"You are really good with kids, Jamie." Alex said, startling me, I did not know he was still there. 

"Uhh, thanks." I replied. 

"So you never answered my question, how long have you been working here?" 

"5 months yesterday." I told him, taking out the thermometer, and writing down her vitals. Then I took off the ambulance equipment, and put on our equipment. I handed them to Alex.

"Why didn't you tell anyone about it." I just shrugged and started off towards the nurses' station, and gave the girls file to the head nurse.

"Thanks Jamie, going to bed now?" I smiled back and nodded.

"Yeah, I'm so tired." Then I turned and headed to my room, I was once again startled to hear Alex behind me. 

"You are sleeping in the hospital? Are you sick?" he asked looking at my bed that just happened to be a hospital bed.

"No, I am not sick. Okay, if I tell you, do you promise not to tell anyone?" I asked, suddenly needing to tell someone.

"I promise." He told me. I sat down on my bed, and he sat down in my desk chair. I told him the whole story.

"I had a hearing, and my Mom never showed up. I guess that sort of sealed the deal. My adoption became official, last week." I finished with a smile.

"Are you telling me that you went through all of that, and did not tell anyone about it? And why didn't you call me when you were sick? I would have taken you to the ER." He calmly told me.

"I know, you were going to be the next person I called, I promise." I told him. 

"Don't worry about it, it's in the past." 

"Thanks for listening." I told him.

"No problem, you really should tell the others you know."

"Maybe, I said." He left, I went to bed. Today is Saturday; I do not have to be at the station until 7 tonight, so I got into my scrubs. As I was making my rounds, I was surprised to see, Val, Tyler and Hank in the playroom playing with a bunch of kids. I stopped, dumbfounded. 

"Hey, Jamie, you came to volunteer to?" Val asked with a smile. Before I could reply, all 15 kids stopped what they were doing and started to run to me, yelling my name. I had to smile. I really love these kids! Val, Tyler, and Hank no longer having any kids to play with stood up with a smile. 

"It seems your well known here." Hank said with a smile. 

"Yeah, seems that way," I laughed. After all the kids got there turn to hug me, they went back to playing. 

"So you volunteer here a lot?" Tyler asked, a bit of shock on his face.

"Umm yeah something like that," I said, but before I could say anything else, Tosha the girl that was brought in last night, yelled from her spot at the puzzles;

"No, he works here! He is really cool! He can give a shot, without you even feeling it. I like him." I had to laugh. She then got up grabbed her IV pole and a book and came and sat in my lap. "Read me this book, please?" She asked.

"Sure." I told her and started to read the book. By the time I had finished, the whole room was gathered around me. They all smiled and got back up and started to play again. Tyler, Hank and Val came and sat down beside me in the small chairs the room held. 

"So you work here huh?" Val asked.

"Yep." I said cheerfully.

"How long?" Tyler asked, five months, 2 days. I told them, then found myself once again telling, my story. I felt so much better once my secret was finally out in the open. 

"So have you seen your real mom at all since then?" Hank asked.

"Nope." I told them. "And when the bills started to not get paid, people came and took the house away, I did not care, I had already gone through and gotten everything I wanted out of it anyways." 

Everyone laughed and we went on with are day, having fun and of course, laughing.

**Author's Note:**

> I cringe every time I read my earlier work, LOL. I'm sure ten years from now I will cringe at my current work too.


End file.
